The lastest updates from Hodovo in Bosnia where some of our young people are currently visiting, through a parish project.
[h2 dotted]Hodovo project Sunday 3rd August[/h2]
Day of rest
Mark headed off to catch his flight home as he had to return to head off on holiday with his family.
Today, being Sunday, had been planned for a day of rest for everyone and an opportunity to join in the festival activities and to take the young people somewhere.
The day started with some free time for the young people before we headed of for the English language Mass with the other English speaking pilgrims. After Mass we headed off to Kravica falls where we had lunch before some of the young people went swimming under close supervision. After a few hours we headed back to Medjugorje.
During the day we were getting up-dates from Mark who was travelling to the airport unfortunately Mark had spent hours getting through the 3 borders which meant that he had missed his flight so he re-joined us at Medjugorje.
After dinner we headed off to the Cenacolo show of music and theatre, which was fantastic. It was called ‘Credo’ and was based upon the creed that we say each Sunday at Mass beginning with Creation and concluding with our Lord’s Resurrection. After this we headed back to the hotel.
[h2 dotted]Hodovo project Saturday 2nd August 2014[/h2]
This morning after breakfast we headed to Hodovo, not before stopping off at the supermarket to buy some mops and buckets as there was none at the school! It shows that often they don't even have basics for cleaning. Once we arrived the work began with the blue paint on the lower parts of the wall. The young people again today worked exceptionally well getting on with the job in hand without complaining even worked through the heat. By lunch time really good progress had been made, by mid-afternoon the painting of the classrooms was complete. The young people had also arrived from the village so our young people joined them to play football and volleyball again. The adults then started to check the rooms for bits that had been missed. Once this had been done the young people returned to clean the floors and put all the desks and chairs back in the classrooms. By 5pm we were complete and all classrooms back to normal. Before we left we arranged that on our return on Monday our young people could spend the morning with the young people from the village. There was still the hall way in the school to be paint, but it was decided that the handyman would complete this over the coming days. Our young people had worked so hard and as a team, that we felt it was important that on Monday they spent the time continuing to build friendships with the young people from village.
We then returned to Medjugorje for the youth festival activities. This evening was the procession of the statue of our Lady through the crowds of people. The priest who was leading this part of the evening was inviting all those gathered to allow their lives to be guided by our Lady to Jesus. He said that this was only possible through our hearts. So he invited everyone to open their hearts to allow this to happen. The procession started with the statue of our Lady followed by a few people from each country carrying their countries flag. The process then made the shape of a heart through the crowd, it was amazing.
[h2 dotted]Hodovo project Friday 1st August[/h2]
Today started with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Then we set off for the settlement at Hodovo. Once we arrived Mark, Steve and the handyman left to go and buy the materials. While they were gone the young people were split up into twos each with one adult and they were straight down to the jobs in hand. Each group began by stripping any materials down from the walls and emptying the whole class room of furniture. Each group had their own room to work on and they were emptied in no time. It was just like a competition to see who could empty their room first! Once the rooms were empty, we then had to wait for the paint. It was not long before the others returned with the paint and other materials. The preparation work then began, first with the masking of the windows, doors and a divider line was measured and drawn to demark where the two colours would meet. The first coat of white went onto the ceilings and upper walls before we broke for lunch at the cafe next door to the school. After lunch it was straight back to work and again the competition was on: who could finish the white section first. In the late afternoon the white was completed. Which was just in time as some of the local young people had arrived from the village. Our young people joined with them playing football and volleyball. While the young people played the adults began to prep the rooms for the following day so that the blue paint could go on straight away. We were all cleaned up and ready to head back to Medjugorje by 4.30Ppm. Once back at Medjugorje we celebrate Mass together before evening meal. After our meal we headed off to the youth festival where thousands of young people had gathered; our young people joined in the activities.
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